What is the Gigabit Broadband Voucher Scheme: The Government is providing up to £210m worth of voucher funding as immediate help for people experiencing slow broadband speeds in rural areas. Vouchers worth up to £1,500 for homes and £3,500 for businesses help to cover the costs of installing gigabit broadband to people’s doorsteps.
Gigabit vouchers can be used by small and medium sized businesses and the local communities surrounding them to contribute to the installation cost of a gigabit capable connection. With increasing use of cloud-based services (data storage and payroll for example), streamed services, voice and video conferencing, and cyber security measures, today’s connectivity speeds may begin to slow under the impact of increased traffic. Gigabit capable connections will allow users to increase download and upload speeds according to their needs well into the future.
Why gigabit?
Gigabit-capable networks are future proof. They can deliver the connection speeds we need – not only today but far into the future. Getting ready for a gigabit speed with full fibre connections will support increasing demand for:
- Multiple internet connected devices
- Cloud storage
- Film, TV and music streaming
- Video calls
- Remote and flexible working
Who is eligible for the Gigabit Broadband Voucher Scheme?
A community group consisting of homes and businesses in rural locations, which meet the following criteria:
- Existing broadband speeds are less than 100Mbps
- There are no plans to build a commercial gigabit network is the near future
- There is no other government-funded contract planned or in place to deliver Gigabit Broadband in your area
